The advent of Eid-ul-Azha sees a rise in demand for professional butchers who only constituted 10 percent of all butchers who cut meat during the occasion.

People begin booking professional butchers to cut the meat even before buying the sacrificial animal during this time of the year when season butchers crop up in bunches in every alley, every street looking to make a quick buck.

Meat Traders’ Associations say that 90 percent of all the meat is cut by seasonal or part-time butchers who switch professions at during Eid-ul-Azha to cash in on the sudden rise in demand for butchers.

The non-professional butchers can be found in Karwan Bazaar, Green Road, Kathal Bagan, Kalabagan, Science Laboratory, Dhanmondi, Pathapath and other areas and charge less than the fees of the professional butchers.

These butchers who usually come from Dinajpur, Panchagarh, Mymensingh, Bogura, Naogaon, Kishoreganj and Patuakhali belong to a wide range of professional backgrounds including rickshaw pullers, day labourers, vegetable sellers.  

They flock to the city and spend the day apart from their families here cutting meat at cheaper rates. They come in groups of around seven or eight which is headed by one professional butcher.

Most of them return home the day after Eid with the money the season brings and some free meat as part of the deal.

“We have come to Dhaka to work as butchers and make an extra earning,” said a butcher who came from outside Dhaka.

As the city fails to provide the residents with adequate number of professional butchers, they have to depend on these part-time butchers who may be untrained in the craft but mange to do the necessary job.

They travel to Dhaka at least two days ahead of Eid and manage to get work by scouring the neighbourhoods of the city.

Monir who came from Dinajpur said that he had previously worked on contract to cut meat in group of four or five people and also was looking for part-time work as a butcher this year.

If there were more people in the group, they could manage to earn as much as the professional butchers although the work took more time, he said.

Professional butchers finish the work in one to one and a half hours while the price falls as the day proceeds. After noon, their rate comes down to Tk 150.

While speaking to these seasonal butchers, it was found that while professional butchers took Tk 200 to Tk 250 per thousand on the total price of the sacrificed animal, non-professional ones worked on contract and took Tk 100 per thousand of the total price of the cow.

Meat trader at Mohammadpur Townhall Bazar Ekram said that he had already been booked for Eid and only worked for customers who were known to him.

Regarding the part-time butchers, he said that he was not bothered by their presence since he and the likes of him had a fixed customer base.

Secretary general of Meat Traders’ Association, Rabiul Alam, adds: “During Eid, 5.5 million to 5.8 million cows are sacrificed with 3 million to 3.5 million goats/lambs and 90 per cent meat is cut by non-professional butchers since only ten per cent are professional.”

In the past, we trained non-professional butchers under the ministry of commerce and taught them about skinning, evisceration and other work. However, this was not done this year, he commented.

We are focusing in making meat export a first-rate sector; we are advertising to make people aware of the rules of animal sacrifice plus the fact that animal body parts can also be imported and therefore, meat is not the only important factor.

Photo: Sazzad Hossain